Oahu, Hawaii

Blog 7:  In the South Pacific heading south towards American Samoa after a port of call in Hawaii on the Island of Oahu - Ship's time is presently 11 hours behind GMT: Weather is hot and tropical - sea state is calm. 

"Life is not how many breaths we take but how many moments that take our breath away" - This adapted anonymous quote from the mid 90's certainly was true of the North coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. We have returned spell bound from a 'Holo Holo' which translated means a day of fun, a trip, sightseeing, a chilling out.  

(PIC) - Bustling Honolulu....

(PIC) - Waikiki Beach resort....

We left the bustling metropolis of Honolulu and the hotel shore  Waikiki Beach and headed along one of the island's three short motorways.
We swiftly travelled north (which is unusual as this city has the second worst traffic rush hour queues of all cities in the USA - Los Angeles being the worst offender) and opening before us were the beautiful central Ko'olau Mountains with scenery so diverse that the camera was red hot with opportunity after opportunity of that 'wow' shot.

(PIC) - gardens and temple....

(PIC) - Buddha.....

We stopped for a short visit at the Valley of the Temples Memorial Gardens to view a replica of a 900 year Japanese Buddhist Temple in Uji Japan. The wooden carved Buddha inside the temple is decorated with gold and lacquer and is one of the largest of its type outside Japan.
This is a place of peaceful serenity surrounded by beautiful ornate Japanese gardens and Koi Ponds.


The temple garden is a fine tribute to the first Japanese settlers who over the many decades have mixed with locals to give an interesting line of genetic history to Hawaii.

(Image) - Japanese American soldiers (known as Nisei)....

The Japanese immigrants are now regarded as 'Koko' meaning they have Hawaii blood in their veins and are treated as such with great respect and dignity amongst all islanders. This is a long way removed from the times after Pearl Harbour when they were hounded almost off the island. These quiet and peaceful people whose life is based on meditation eventually were accepted and ironically as part of the American allies in the well documented 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team were decorated with many medals following extreme bravery on the D Day landings and other European war campaign heroics. In fact statistics prove that this was the most decorated American regiment in history (accounting for size and length of service).

(PIC) - Peace and serenity.....

The Cemetery here is for both humans and animals; they Islanders believe in the after life so many graves have snacks, drinks, even full meals by the graves so that the inhabitants will never go

(PIC) - A Black Swan and Koi..... 

hungry. Very touching indeed and it difficult to put in writing the serenity and peace one gets from this valley of the temples area. This is a must visit on any trip to Hawaii and these short paragraphs can not show the beauty and just how well maintained these gardens and ponds are kept. 

(PIC) - China Man's Hat: (IMAGE) - The myth that is the China Man's hat......

There are so many interesting legends which make this island
 unique and awe-inspiring - One of these legends involves the China Man's Hat, a rock structure projecting from the sea at Kualea Beach. It is said that the rock is in fact the tail of the dragon, the back of which forms the Ko'olau mountain range. Another is that this is the hat made for a boy who dreamt he was to be a giant and protect his peoples.  Whatever the myth, this is a lovely beach setting with a mountain backdrop hard to beat anywhere in the world. Although the rock is only a few yards off the beach no one dares to swim there as the Tiger sharks guard the Chinaman's hat with all too much bite and seriousness for the cowardly paddler to risk the trip. 

(PIC insert) - Peppermint Angel fish.....

The island wild life includes sharks, Green Backed Turtle, Monk Seals, Minor Birds, Trigger Fish which look like a pigs snout, Brazilian Cardinals, pure yellow Angel Fish, all abundant in the coastal areas. In fact of the hundreds of different and varied wild life species of Hawaii, 25% is indigenous, found no where else on our planet. In the local Public aquarium there is a Peppermint Angel Fish (valued at $30000), the only one on display anywhere in the world. 

(PIC) - A basking Turtle.....

In one magical moment we were very close to a Turtle on the beach at Kahuku. There is a State law that no one can go to within 25 feet of a basking turtle and quite right too. They are wonderful creatures who live up to 100 years. They start life as carnivorous and change in adolescence to vegetarians. The only way to tell a male turtle is from the length of their tails, the female has a short tale hardly projecting from under the shell and the male, well its a long thick one (now thats a surprise!). Although they love to bask they are much happier in the water swimming at speeds of up to 35mph. The female can lay 50-100 fertilised eggs through one mating at sea. The female lays these eggs about a foot under the sands.
Sadly a lot of the eggs are eaten by birds  before hatching but the little baby straight towards the

(Image)-The babies heading to sea....

                   

sea directed by the light of the moon. It is a state law that in hatching season all beach house and car lights must be turned off in order to show the turtles which way the sea is by following the moon's light and not skittle up a front garden or into the path of a vehicle. The Turtle's predators are the whale and the shark. It would take an animal with a 'could not care less' digestion system to munch through the hard outer shell of a turtle. Nature can be very cruel but yet beautiful in its natural habitat.

(Image) - Hawaiian Monk Seal...

The Hawaiian Monk Seal is one of the rarest animals on earth hunted to almost complete extinction in the late 19th century. A point of interest and to diversify for a second, the Hawaiian Alphabet has only 12 letters, so for example Monk seal in Hawaii is called an "ilio holo i ka uaua or "dog that runs in rough water". That's seven of the 12 letters of the alphabet so you can see that they are repeated very regularly and in different accents. The only other letters used in the traditional language are e,b,m,n,w. However due to the variants and accents on letters this language is one of the most difficult to learn as youngsters.

(PIC) - Shrimp Lunch.....

Now let's get back to the 'Holo Holo'- Lunch was served from a Shrimp Truck  - well a shack really, next to one of the local shrimp ponds. Easy - dig a hole behind a roadside shack, add a bit of salt to the fresh water, do a bit of waiting, a bit of fishing and there it is, lunch on a plate.  Followed by a local favourite, 'shave ice', a bit like a slush puppy but with added fruit juices to make exotic colours and delicious to quench the thirst on a hot Hawaiian day. 

(PIC) - Sunset Beach.....

In the afternoon we travelled on the wonderful north west coast

(PIC) - The waves on our visit day....

(PIC insert) - Championship Surfing....

road down to Sunset Beach and to the famous world championship surfing location which has the huge Pacific crashing waves. Another white sand beach with stunning backdrops. It was quite a sight to see lots of surfers plying their talents riding those waves into the beach. Little blobs in the water suddenly jumping up and appearing to be suspended in space till just as quickly as they appeared became a blob again. Practice makes perfect and what a idllic place to spend your hours cultivating this part sport, part art form, activity.
The large waves are here in the winter months when the winds are in a slightly different direction but we still got a great feel for the atmosphere that  simply was 'sun, sea, sand and surfing!'

(Image) - Film South Pacific...

Geographically, Hawaii is in the North Pacific but this island has all the characteristics of a tropical island of the South Pacific. In fact one of the valleys of the Ko'olau Mountains was a location setting for the film "South Pacific", such is the magical feel and mixture of lush green valleys giving way to white sands and palm trees. Just to say, in case you are thinking this, that although I worked in the film Industry I did not work on this film  - I am not that old, cheeky monkeys! It was made in 1958....

(PIC) - Dole's Plantation....

A visit to Dole's Pineapple plantation and canning factory was extremely interesting. James Dole is considered to be the pioneer of the Pineapple industry. Contrary to belief that the pineapple originated in Hawaii it is actually a fruit of Paraguay and came over to Hawaii with early Polynesian settlers. The canning factory here is the largest in the world and I was astonished to know that the canning machinery invented over 100 years ago is still in use today peeling and canning pineapples at an extraordinarily fast rate per minute. The Inventor's name, who made this mass production possible - of course a Mr Canning! This industry is an out an out success story especially considering that

(PIC insert) - The victorian slicing machine still in use today...

although it takes some 18 months for a pineapple to mature you can get two fruit seasons from the same seed plant in the same patch of ground. Very clever and entrepreneurial were Mr Dole and Mr Canning. The harvesting however is all completed by the human part of enterprise which is great for the economy and keeps employment levels high in the community.

The must try 'Dole whip ice cream' with its delicious pineapple flavour went down a treat just before a tropical downpour took us running to shelter only to disappear as quickly as the clouds arrived overhead. The yellow Hibiscus flower (the national flower of Hawaii), the several different species of pineapple plants

(PIC) - Hibiscus Flower.....

growing as if in a herbaceous border and the sweet smelling lemon eucalyptus leaving their scent on the rain just made this location a haven of nature's beauty working as one with the commercial enterprise of a Victorian immigrant family. 

(PIC insert) - please look at the hands!!...

The famous hand sign 'halloa' or 'aloha' also named the 'shoka wave' has an interesting origin. A gentleman many years ago had a nasty accident on the sugar plant machinery and lost three fingers only leaving the little pinky and the thumb. After recovering he was moved to another job directing traffic around the factory. His traffic stop sign became so well known that other workers waved back at him using their hand with only the same two digits raised. Originally a stop sign, the surfing fraternity took it up and it became a 'lets chill out' greeting widely used around the globe. The reply to a verbal "aloha" is "aloha no" meaning "a good day to you as well my friend".

(PIC insert) - Aloha shirt.....

The Hawaiian 'aloha shirt' is another iconic piece of island history  - the shirt  was always just a bit of a 'wear round the house' throw on material used by locals until Elvis wore one in his famous Hawaii films, Frank Sinatra also wore one in "Here to Eternity" Tom Selleck (Magnum P.I.) and stars of "Hawaii Five-0" made the shirt famous on TV. A local guy registered the name 'aloha shirt' and sold them in his hardware store in Honolulu and the rest as they say is history. Its a cool thing to have a shirt and now I am the proud owner of a locally purchased bright orange flowery one that says an awful lot for my character especially if I wear it playing with my new pink set of bowls!

(PIC) - Floating Museum of USS Arizona.....

Our final look - albeit from a distance - was the Pearl Harbour region. Originally a bay which was a local pearl diving region it is now in modern times not only a working naval base but a museum dedicated to the 2000 killed in 1942 when 18 war ships were sunk by the Japanese airforce including the USS Arizona over which the floating museum stands today. What is interesting is that there is a Battleship in mooring there called USS Missouri. It was on this ship that the Instrument of Surrender was signed, officially declaring the end of WWII.

(PIC) - Diamond Head Crater....

On the other side of the city stands Diamond Head, the crater region that housed an American communication base and lookout centre. It was from this point that the American base saw the waves of aircraft coming in from the South East and were powerless to assist as the planes were out of range of anti-aircraft fire and therefore watched helplessly as the base was attacked. What they must have witnessed I can only imagine today.

(PIC) - The pink exterior of the Tripler Hospital....

Our Guide told us the story of the American services hospital on the hill behind the base not  being attacked in the bombing raid; it was subsequently established that the reason that it was left intact was that the building had been painted pink and the Japanese thought that this would not be a colour ever used on a military establishment. This was not a military camouflage but rather a matter of luck. It was only painted pink as this was the architect's wife favourite colour! the guide continued to articulate that hundreds of lives were saved during the raid as the hospital could remain open and casualties most of which sustained serious burns were being immediately treated.

Footnote (updated after return home) - I have to say that indeed the Tripler Hospital was built on the Moanalua Ridge overlooking Honolulu and is painted pink.  However it was not completed till 1948! How stories can become exaggerated for the ears of the tourist!! The Hospital in the actual grounds of Pearl Harbour was not attacked and only suffered minor damage unlike the hollywood version where it was blown to pieces.

(PIC) - Aloha Tower....

The last look was at the Aloha Tower, the Liberty statue, for years the tallest building in Honolulu at 180 feet. Now it is dwarfed by skyscrapers of a prosperous business city. I was pleased that we went away from the metropolis and found beauty and peace and a golden nugget in the most isolated part of our universe. This was an unforgettable experience and rekindles my belief that the world cannot just have simply been a creation of science and evolution. There has to be a deeper reason that our planet has this outstanding beauty, wondrous wild life and a human race which in the majority is a friendly species wanting to welcome you to their world with a smile and a peace which seems a life away from the stress and pressures of our so called modern world. 

Honolulu means "gathering place' and the locals here never mention the words to "die" or "death" but simply refer to the "end of a journey". It was the end of our journey, albeit one day on Oahu. The Hawaiian island archipelago is moving 3 inches per year to the North West and it is a fact that this movement will eventually create space to form another island one day by an eruption of the active volcanic Pacific plate. Hawaii will therefore never reach the end of its journey, this island of friendship will keep expanding its beauty to capture the traveller and to give us continued hope that our planet is indeed unique and very very special. 

(PIC) - Miles to New Zealand.....

At The Doles Pineapple Plantation I saw this sign which shows the distance still to travel to the end of our first leg of our  adventure which is Auckland New Zealand. 4391 miles is still a long way south but first its a visit to American Samoa and then onto Tonga

I will  try and fit in a blog before Auckland if I can get some good signal on the ship and have a bit of pocket money spare to pay the extortionate internet connection fees.   

Stay in touch then to read Blog 8 from somewhere south of Tonga....

DKT